Adobe Flash project manager gives up on iPhone Packager

The project manager for Adobe Flash said his company is throwing in the towel on its Flash for iPhone efforts and concentrating its efforts on Android.

In a post on his blog, Mike Chambers said the company will still ship its iPhone packager with Creative Suite 5, which allows developers to build iPhone apps in Flash and convert them for the iPhone.

But he said after Apple changed the language of its developer license agreement to prohibit the use of outside development tools, Adobe won’t be investing anymore in that software.

He said Apple’s ban on cross platform tools, if enforced, could effect many apps built with Unity, Titanium, MonoTouch, and Flash CS5. But he suspects Apple will be targeting Flash-built apps and is preparing the makers of more than 100 iPhone apps built with iPhone Packager to have their apps pulled.

He said Apple is not interested in supporting technologies that allow apps to be easily built across multiple platforms. He said while CS5 complied with Apple’s license agreement until the changes were announced April 8, the new iPhone packager would have enabled the kind of cross platform developing Apple wants to avoid.

Chambers wrote: “The primary goal of Flash has always been to enable cross browser, platform and device development. The cool web game that you build can easily be targeted and deployed to multiple platforms and devices. However, this is the exact opposite of what Apple wants. They want to tie developers down to their platform, and restrict their options to make it difficult for developers to target other platforms.”

Chamber said Adobe will be using its experience gained in developing the iPhone packager and applying it to Android. He said the Android operating system, which has made strides and will appear on a number of tablets in the coming months, offers a big opportunity for Adobe and other Flash developers.

“We are at the beginning of a significant change in the industry, and I believe that ultimately open platforms will win out over the type of closed, locked down platform that Apple is trying to create. I am excited about Flash Player 10.1 and Adobe AIR 2.0 and all of the opportunities that they will make available to Flash developers across multiple platforms (desktop, Android, Palm, Windows Phone 7, RIM, etc…),” he wrote.

This is an ongoing battle between Apple and Adobe. Analysts and observers believe Apple’s ban on intermediary translation or layer tools helps Apple maintain an edge over rival smart phone platforms by encouraging developers to write specifically for the iPhone. But it also helps lead to higher quality apps, according to an e-mail Steve Jobs recently wrote to a developer.

“We’ve been there before, and intermediate layers between the platform and the developer ultimately produces sub-standard apps and hinders the progress of the platform,” Jobs wrote.